Resident life

The internal medicine residency program “lives” on central Long Island, striking a perfect balance between city and country. The two campuses are located a few miles apart in a beautiful suburb of New York City less than 20 miles from Times Square, an easy ride by car or Long Island Rail Road, and a 30-minute car ride away from three airports.

We are surrounded by the Long Island Sound on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other, complete with the recreational opportunities associated with miles of diverse coastline, including surfing, boating, and fishing. Long Island also has great parks, tournament-quality golf courses, hiking, bike trails and fine dining. As a community, Nassau County consistently ranks among the best in charitable giving, community investment, recreation, education, housing, health care, and other quality-of-life measures.

We strongly believe that collegiality enhances training effectiveness, so our program is infused with activities and strategies that actively support connections among trainees. The resulting camaraderie is all the more remarkable in light of the fact that so many residents are pursuing highly competitive fellowships.

House staff

Resident spotlights

Marci Laudenslager, M.D.

What drew you to a career in medicine?

After I completed my undergraduate education, I accepted a Research Scientist position in translational genomics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In this role, I had the distinct pleasure of working with patients and families affected by neuroblastoma – a rare and devastating childhood malignancy. In my early years at CHOP, I often worked as a de facto genetic counselor. As our work expanded, my role became increasingly diversified – I spent more time at the bench and less time speaking with families. I knew at that time that I belonged in clinical practice and set out to transform my career in science to one of both science and medicine.

Why did you choose Northwell for residency?

I first arrived at Northwell as an interviewee, the first impression I had was one of fantastic enthusiasm and excitement. The general landscape of medicine is changing at an incredible pace and Northwell was passionate about being a positive and active participant in this transformation. Northwell embraced the classic tenets of medical education while maintaining forward-thinking and laser-sharp focus on what’s next. Most importantly, however, Northwell is a supportive, collegial and positive atmosphere. I knew that, in this residency program, I would meet lifelong colleagues and friends.

What have been some key learnings from residency?

The experience of a medical residency is truly unique. Like any other challenging endeavor, it must be experienced in full in order to be fully understood. As I reflect on the past three years, the most potent and meaningful experiences were those that unfolded at the bedside.

medicine, we see patients in their most vulnerable states. This vulnerability exposes a fantastic complexity to the human condition – family dynamic, occupation, education, religion, culture, socioeconomic status. At the bedside, however, this extraordinary complexity is juxtaposed with an elegant simplicity – that of basic human emotion – fear, anger, desperation, joy. While all humans are complex, we all share the basic desire to be heard, understood and cared for. My most treasured moments in residency were spent seated at a patient’s bedside – understanding the person beside me and caring for their needs.

Residency has taught me the incredible value of these moments; I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

What are your plans after residency?

hope to pursue a fellowship in Gastroenterology.

What are your outside interests?

I began a career as a classical musician at the age of two. Since that time, I’ve worked in recording studios and toured the world – an absolutely surreal and incredible experience. I rarely perform in the public arena but I continue to compose and record music. When I’m not playing music, I’m outside running. I’ve competed in triathlons, distance races and adventure races with my brother and look forward to these events whenever time allows.

What are your long-term goals?

I hope to pursue a fellowship in Gastroenterology after residency. Thereafter, I would like to pursue a physician-scientist role while maintaining a strong foothold in medical education. I’ve additionally recently discovered an intense interest in advocacy and public policy – it would be my aim to continue work in this area of medicine.

Sushmitha Reddy, M.D.

What made you interested in the NY ACP elective?

I have always been interested in medicine and public health. My interest in public health became stronger during medical school - after taking a few public health classes in medical school, I realized that I was interested in health policy. When the opportunity to participate in the ACP elective arose, I decided to apply so that I could explore this interest further.

What did you learn from that experience?

I learned how much of an impact physicians can have on health policy and on the ways in which health care is delivered in the United States. If we choose to speak with our state senators, state assemblymen, and attend lobby days in the State Capitol and in Washington, D.C, we can have a large say in health care in our country.

What have been some other valuable lessons?

Learning how to integrate medicine and public health into a career was a valuable lesson. So was learning how bills become law and how physicians can shape healthcare for their patients.

Other highlights?

Living in Albany for a month was a lot more fun than I thought it would be!

Why did you choose Northwell for your residency?

I chose Northwell for my residency for many reasons. I was drawn to the strong academic nature of the institution, as well as the work-life balance the program provides. Living in New York and staying close to family was an advantage as well.

Do you have time for outside interests?

Yes! In my free time, I like to run on my treadmill, cook and bake, and catch up on my favorite television shows.

What are your future plans?

I will be staying at Northwell Health for a Fellowship in Endocrinology; after that I plan on pursuing a Masters in Public Health degree with a focus in health policy.

Natasha McMillan, M.D.

Medicine has always appealed to me because it's innovative and constantly evolving. Medicine, unlike any other field provides the opportunity to stay abreast with technology and simultaneously apply it in a meaningful manner with maximal benefit.

I chose Northwell for residency, because of its commitment to high-value care and relentless education. Residency at Northwell has taught me to be an independent forward thinker. Northwell provides up to date medical technology without sacrificing the humanity of medicine. Part of its dedication to the human aspect of medicine is the Uganda Elective offered in the third year.

The Uganda Elective is a unique opportunity provided by Northwell that enabled me to take the skills taught in the hospital and adapt it to a resource poor environment. Those 4 weeks were truly transformative for me as a doctor. The experience and tools that I've gained during that time remain with me. In fact, I plan to continue working in Global Health for the next year in Rwanda. I plan to work in small communities practicing medicine and educating the local population. So that they may grow and protect their own health and community.

Ultimately, I do plan to specialize in Gastroenterology. Throughout the exposure to every aspect of internal medicine provide by this residency program for me, GI remains the most fascinating. GI is a field rich in groundbreaking medicine that provides immediate and lasting change for patients

Winston Wong, M.D.

A day in the life of an intern

It is a universal fact that intern year is a very stressful time. You go from being a medical student to a doctor almost overnight. All of a sudden, you start introducing yourself with a weird prefix, and you have patients asking you questions as if you are the person with the answers. However, less widely publicized, intern year is also a very unique time when you grow both as an individual and a professional at a tremendously fast pace. You push your personal limitations and set new ones. You bond with people at a different level. Most importantly, you finally appreciate what being a doctor has to offer when you make a difference in your patients’ lives. While I would not be so bold as to describe any day during intern year as typical, every day has a beginning and an end, however early or late they may be. Below is a glimpse into a day on the wards as a medicine intern on a non-call day:

5:15 am: Wake up, push the alarm. Clean myself up, make a cup of repulsively strong coffee, grab a banana, and off I go.

6:20 am: Start off my professional day by bringing a big smile onto the night intern’s face as he or she realizes that a list will be signed out early (official sign-out time is 7). Quickly glance at my patient’s vitals, touch base with the overnight nurses before they leave, chart check, and start pre-rounding on my patients.

7:00 am: Discuss with my senior resident any overnight events, finish pre-rounding, and write my progress notes. I learned that the sooner I finish my notes, the less stressful the rest of the day will be and I try to use every stress-relieving tactic in my book. Another good tip is to check in with the case-managers early in the morning to make sure that there are no hold-ups on any potential discharges. If there are, I have the rest of the morning to deal with any issues. Any prolongation of hospital stay means increased risk of hospital-acquired infections, which further prolongs the hospitalization.

9:30 am - 11:00 am: Rounds, rounds, rounds! Discuss with my attending the treatment plans for my patients, identify any new discharges for the day, voice any questions or concerns. On non-call days, my list is usually fairly low so rounds don’t take up the entire morning. If time permits, my attending may choose to teach a high-yield topic, or if previously planned, I would give a short presentation.

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm (on Tuesday and Wednesdays): Unload the wrath of my pager and in-hospital phone upon my senior because it’s time for intern report!!! This is protected educational time and personally one of my favorite components of the workweek. I either present an interesting case I had or I delve right in to what other shenanigans my co-interns are up to.

3:00 pm - 4:00 pm: Update my patients and their families on any new developments, chart check for any new consultant recommendations, order AM labs, and update my provider handoff notes.

4:00 pm - 7:00 pm: If it’s not my long day, I can sign out to either my co-intern or senior at 4:00 pm provided my work is done. If it’s my long day, my co-intern or senior will sign out and forward their pagers to me. Between 4 and 7, I will be cross-covering the entire team’s list, but they should all be pretty well tucked in so any pages I get are generally for minor orders. During the 3 hours, I start some discharge summaries, pre-write my progress notes for the following day, do some studying, or if it’s been a particularly long day, take a much needed coffee or smoothie break at the Au Bon Pain in the lobby.

7:00 pm: Sign out all the patients to the night intern with particular emphasis placed on anything he or she needs to follow up at night or any specific complications I anticipate could occur to my patients.

7:15 pm: The day is finally over! It may have been a long day, but try to focus on the bright side: there won’t be much traffic at this hour!

Recruitment booklet

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